Bullock County


Located in the Black Belt region, Bullock County is the birthplace of civil-rights activist Virginia Foster Durr. The county is also home to one of the first public gardens in the United States and the oldest chartered garden club in the nation. Currently, the region is known for its hunting and field trial lands. The county is run by an elected five-member commission.

· Founding Date: December 5, 1866
· Area: 625 square miles
· Population: 10,906 (2006 Census Bureau estimate)
· Major Waterways: Conecuh River
· Major Highways: U.S. 29, U.S. 82
· County Seat: Union Springs
· Largest City: Union Springs

History 

Edward C. Bullock (1822-1861) of Eufaula was a Edward C. BullockBullock County was created by an Act of the State Legislature on December 5, 1866. Carved out of parts of Macon, Pike, Montgomery, and Barbour counties, it was named for Alabama Confederate Colonel E.C. Bullock. Like much of southeastern Alabama, Bullock County was once the home of the Creek Indians. During the Treaty of Fort Jackson in 1814, the Creeks ceded 23 million acres of land in Alabama and Georgia to the United States government. The boundary of the lands ceded by the Creeks ran across present-day Bullock County from northeast of Mitchell Station, Alabama, to southeast of Pine Grove, Alabama. Following Alabama statehood and Creek Indian Removal in the 1830s, settlers began pouring into present day Bullock County. The richness of the soil in the area made it highly conducive to cotton production and the county quickly became one of the richest in the state.

Like many counties in Alabama, Bullock County was devastated by the Civil War. With a pre-war slave population of approximately 70 percent, Bullock County farmers found emancipation and reconstruction to be devastating. During Reconstruction, Bullock County elected two African-Americans to the state legislature. The Civil War and its aftermath, along with the boll weevil, however, greatly reduced the wealth of the area. In the early twentieth century several cotton mills, The Bullock County Courthouse in Union Springs was Bullock County Courthouseowned by the Comer family, opened in Union Springs. In addition, the early 1920s saw once fertile cotton lands converted into wealthy Amateur Field Trial (competitions for bird dogs) lands. The largest, and one of the most profitable, of the game reserves was owned by the Maytag family, founders of Maytag Appliance Corporation.

Major Cities and Demographics

At the time of the 2000 Census Bullock County recorded a population of 11,714, a 6.9 percent increase from the 1990 Census. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the 2006 population was 10,906, with 71.4 percent African-American, 27.8 percent White, and 5.9 percent Hispanic. The county seat, Union Springs, had an estimated population of 3,443 in 2005, a decrease of 6 percent from 2000. The only other significant population center is Midway (428). In 2003 the median household income was $20,808, compared with $36,131 for the rest of the state. The per capita income was $10,163 in 1999, compared with $18,189 for the rest of the state.

Economy 

During the nineteenth century, Bullock County, located in Alabama CottonDuring the nineteenth century, Bullock County was the center of the cotton industry. The rich soils of the Black Belt were excellent for cotton farming, and Bullock County became one of the wealthiest counties. The Civil War and the boll weevil devastated the industry by the early twentieth century, however. As cotton production declined, farmers attempted to diversify with other crops such as corn and alfalfa. In addition, exhausted agricultural lands were sold for use as bird-dog training and hunting lands.

According to the United States Census for the year 2000, Bullock County was the poorest county in the state of Alabama and one of the poorest in the nation, with 33 percent of the population living in poverty. The majority of jobs in present-day Bullock county are centered around agriculture, forestry, and hunting and fishing. In addition, several poultry and poultry processing plants are located in the area, as is the Bonnie Plant Farm headquarters. The workforce in present-day Bullock County is made up of the following occupations: 18 percent management and professional; 18.8 percent in service industries; 17.1 percent in sales and office jobs; 10.4 percent in construction, extraction, and maintenance; 31 percent in production, transportation, and material moving; and 4.7 percent in fishing and agriculture. The Bullock County School System currently employs 122 teachers and administrators who serve 1,952 students in six schools. In addition the county contains one private school.

Geography 

Bullock County is 45th in size among Alabama Bullock County MapComprising approximately 625 square miles, Bullock County lies in the southeastern area of the state, wholly within the Black Belt region. It is bounded to the north by Macon County, to the east and southeast by Russell and Barbour counties, to the southwest Pike County, and to the west by Montgomery County.

The Conecuh River runs through the center of the county while the Pea River, a tributary of the Choctawhatchee River, runs along the southeastern border of the county. In addition, numerous creeks such as the Bughall Creek, a tributary of the Tallapoosa River, Old Town Creek, and Line Creek intersect the area. U.S. 29 and U.S. 82 are Bullock County's major transportation routes, running east to west and north to south.

Events and Places of Interest 

Bullock County is renowned as one of the best hunting areas in the state. Beginning in the early twentieth century, Sedgefields Plantation, near Union Springs, began hosting hunters from all over the world. Each February Bullock County hosts a series of field trials, known as Amateur Free For Alls, at which bird dogs and their trainers display their quail-hunting abilities. Union Springs, the county seat and largest town in the area, is known as the Field Trial Capital of the World. In addition, Bullock County is home to several deer and turkey hunting preserves and hosts one of the few fox-hunting communities in the nation.

The Bird Dog Field Trial Monument in Union Bird Dog Field Trial MonumentBullock County is home to several antebellum historic homes including the Bonus-Foster-Chapman House, childhood home of Alabama Civil Right's activist Virginia Foster Durr, and the McCaslan-Garner House. In 2003 Trinity Episcopal Church in Union Springs was converted into the Red Door Theater. Each spring the theater hosts "Conecuh People . . . The Experience" a play written by Ty Adams and adapted from Bullock County native and historian Wade Hall's autobiographical book of the same name. Also notable is Chunnenuggee Garden, one of the first public gardens in the United States and Alabama's first public garden. The Chunnenuggee Garden Club maintains the gardens and is the oldest charter garden club in the United States.

Additional Resources  

Hall, Wade. Conecuh People: Words of Life from the Alabama Black Belt. Montgomery, Ala.: New South Books, 2004.

Hamilton, John Floyd. A Study of the Social and Economic Conditions in Bullock County. Master's thesis, Auburn University, 1939.

Heritage of Bullock County. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Pub. Consultants, Inc, 1999.

Patricia Hoskins Morton
Auburn University


Published June 28, 2007
Last updated February 5, 2010